Dragons: Race to Tomorrow
by ChaosX97
Summary: Modern day Berk is like nothing else with dragons back in the world, and Hiccup dreams of entering the Dragons' Edge Grand Prix and living life with his best friend Toothless. But competition is fierce, sinister plots lie behind the checkered flag, and no one is who they say they are. The race track is never boring, and not for the faint of heart. Let the races begin!


"_Once there were dragons…"_

To Valka, a scientist, those words were her mantra. Four words that led her down a path she had built and staked her entire career on. Now here she was risking her and her crew's lives on it on the stormy seas of New Berk.

She had always been a frail thing; the sight of her gripping the wheel of her boat with hands turned white from cold and a raking like tearing flesh would have been mocked. The wind roared out as clouds cloaked the skies, while waves raked their boat crashing into the hull, knocking her and her crew like prey before watery jaws. Men in her hometown could survive a storm twice as strong being four times as heavy. Whatever nature had in its arsenal to throw, a Berk man could weather it on will alone for the sake of a tale to tell.

And here she was, fighting for dear life on ludicrous opinions.

"_Majestic and menacing sky dragons that glided and danced upon the winds looking down upon the world."_

Valka spun the wheel left as the waters swelled into a large wave. Their vessel braced and spun around the wave as its shadow loomed over and fell. Though it tipped and bobbed, the ship held aloft carried on the rough waters. Valka breathed out the frigid sea air and the sense of daring in her lungs she thanked her heritage and upbringing for.

The members of her crew behind her were only faring so well. Viking blood and a sense of adventure wasn't in everyone.

"Dr. Haddock, we must turn back!" A red-haired woman to her right shouted. "The seas are too rough to navigate!"

"I've maintained our course thus far, Atali! Just brace yourselves!"

"_Little colored dragons fluttering about staring at the trees and sheep with wide-eyes."_

"No, Dr. Haddock, she is correct. This vessel wasn't built to withstand such hazardous conditions." Another blond-haired woman spoke to her right bracing herself along the consoles. "We've strayed from our original course and the radio is failing!"

"Instruments are beginning to fail, but we've detected an increase in wind speed and shift in currents!" Her companion, a muscular man with a shaved head in a black suit called. "The boat will capsize at this rate.

"_Amazingly huge sea dragons twenty times the size of whales that swam the currents and seen more of this earth than humans will ever see in their lifetimes."_

Valka turned the wheel against the rise of another swell. Her instruments maintained working order, beeping and showing displays of temperature, wind speed, sonar, and the like. She'd made sure her ship would be as durable as she was, when she survived far worse than stormy winds in her 20 years. "We're still on course. I've marked the coordinates down on the map. We just need to sail out a little further."

"The data is not conclusive. We haven't a shred of actual proof there is anything at those coordinates." Atali noted.

"Our donors have only promised to continue funding this project if we bring results!" Valka cried. A crash came upon the boat and knocked her down to her knees, something only nature could do. "We cannot risk our last chance!"

She'd been prepared to beg for the sake of her research, her beliefs; Valka had lost all concern for if her home had deemed her mad or childish. It had been something of a small miracle that millionaires would come to her humble home and grant her, a woman little more than a year out of college with a major in paleontology, the backing needed to continue her work. The meagre funding the town had given her had been cut off, though what did she expect when she was chasing creatures out of children's fantasy?

Valka was optimistic, a dreamer, but she was no one's fool. She knew there was some catch to a man throwing money and a top of the line cruiser equipped with the latest in seafaring technology. But if it let her find the truth she was seeking, what did she care if she had to jump into the wrath of Odin and Thor?

"Ms. Mala, Mr. Throk, Atali, thank you for your cooperation." Valka called to the other two. She pointed to the open way, past a second ocean's worth of rain and gusts that could blow them to sea like paper out to the deck. "There is a spare boat on the lower level. Set it on autopilot and you can take the boat to return to the mainland."

"Valka!" Atali spoke.

"Dr. Haddock, with all due respect, are you mad!?" Mala cried. "Despite the reputation of the Berkian people, determination and heritage will not last you more than a few sparse moments in this storm!"

"She is right, Valka. We must prioritize our work before our lives. We can continue our search another day, somehow."

"There is no need for risk." Throk noted.

It was words like those that taught Valka to detach herself from even those closest to her, breathing hard in silence. They gave two important lessons: That people couldn't see what she saw, even if she couldn't explain it herself, and so wouldn't understand. And that it was ultimately for the better that they didn't. She wouldn't have to drag them in her affairs.

"_Some believe they returned to the sea leaving not a bone nor a fang nor claw for men to remember them by."_

Valka did warn them when they'd set off from the dock, when the clouds were already rolling in and they boarded stocked in their suits and best furs. In fact, she'd told them outright not to come when there was a good chance what they were seeking just wasn't there. Berk had promised the journey would not be an easy or pleasurable one; let her be the only one to freeze in a watery grave if the worst came to pass.

But they did understand her passion. Perhaps it had sparked some sense of imagination and wonder long forgotten in all of them, hardened to reality and focused on their own paths. When she'd first met them, Valka might have been convinced some minds could be changed.

"_Many more believe they were never more than stories and folktales to begin with."_

They offered to brave the journey with her anyway. If only to save her from her own drive.

Her drive was not wrong. Her mind was cemented as she stared out to the sea's edge.

"_But I believe… they are still out there."_

* * *

Valka, a new mother, brushed her fingers over the stomach of her child. She smiled watching him giggle, but even more when his gaze strayed from her face to the spiraling mobile above him.

Her Hiccup, her child had clearly had a sense of wonder and curiosity when merely looking through his room was an adventure. From the safety of his crib past the meadows of colorful carpets towards hillsides of toy boxes filled with stuffed trolls and dragons. Wooden castles with banners drawn in crayon and uncharted waters that were stray blocks and clothes he had thrown about. Crawling and squirming in his blankets at journey's end he could stare up to a ceiling of stars, his ever-present night sky, where light and shadow danced and flew like old friends.

She believed if she ever had a child, it was important to encourage a sense of wonder, lest he be like all the other rock-headed Berkians. In her hands, one more dragon with glittery fins and membranes looped and circled to the child's laughter. Seeing Hiccup smile let loose a giggle she hoped was in her after the events of previous days.

"Long ago, dragons lived alongside people. Soaring the skies, swimming the seas and the like. They were once enemies, and not quite sure how to get along, but they did, and soon they soared together." Valka had told the story multiple times, leaving the toy in his hands every time. He'd hugged the toy and stroked it like it was a living creature. How he loved the tale of dragons and humans together.

"Until both realized the world wasn't ready for that. Dragons had to go away, until it was safe." She trailed off. Hiccup had gotten sleepy as always, by the end, nodding off. Valka would as always take the head of the toy and rubbed it along his cheek as if it were kissing him. She would give the real thing herself. "Precious thing. I think the dragons would be willing to come back to play with you. Wouldn't that be something, to fly on a dragon?"

"Taking our son on flights of fancy again?"

Valka checked that Hiccup was fully asleep, then gave a short sigh. Hearing her husband Stoick's burly voice as if in warning did that to her. His shadow loomed over their fantasyland like a giant golem of stone, his beefy arms crossed, no doubt.

"Better this than that tall tale of you shooting down a wild grizzly." She said rising from her stool. "Kept Hiccup up for hours."

Stoick chuckled in dismissal, the waves of fiery red in his beard bouncing. "He just needs to get a gun in his hands! No other feelin' like that of a man on the hunt!" He spoke in a rising uproar.

Hiccup squirmed in his crib at his father's voice.

"None of that, Stoick Haddock." Valka chided turning and settling the babe into his blankets again.

"Right, right. He'll be too busy playin quarterback on the Berk High School team, graduating top honors in law, joining the force and runnin' fer office!"

"Now who does that sound like?" She sighed again rubbing her temple. She'd hoped she was clearer now.

"I'd call it a lucrative career path."

She was wrong.

Of course Stoick'd call it that; it was the career path of every child of Berk, born and raised. Schools held nothing but sports programs, TV shows always had the not-so-hidden sub-message of respecting government. All the smart kids would pack up and head out lest they face one of three paths: as a policeman, an athlete, or the odd fishmonger or shopkeeper. It was one of many reasons why the boring town of Berk was passed on most printed maps.

Valka dearly loved her husband, his commitment to his town and sense of justice and bravery. But sometimes his antiquated ideals wanted to make her scream.

Frowning, Valka paced over to her husband's side and stroked her finger on the switch to bring down the lights. Hiccup would have sweet dreams at least. "Well I'd prefer if our son could grow up and make decisions for himself." She turned wistful closing the door and letting him rest. "Our little Gynt. To thyself be true, and to hell with the world."

"You loved that play."

"You blame it."

As did the rest of the town. Clearly, her husband and the council's actions of cutting the funding to her research was their way of punishing her for asking questions, getting ideas, and worst of all, making messes of normal life.

"Valka, let's not do this again." So he wasn't dense. A night on the town where he'd clearly come from wasn't enough to keep him from noticing. Least she'd been spared the brunt of a migraine. His meaty hand ghosted her shoulder. "You know I did what I had to do. The town's funds are needed elsewhere. You've heard what they all say."

"I always hear what they say." She tensed, her hands gripping her arms as she closed away. Valka hated that about herself as she walked the hall. "But I also saw that play as more than just. Stories tend to mean things, Mayor Stoick."

"Not that they're all real. Please, Val my dear, for me and Hiccup. Focus on what's real."

With a sigh following another, Stoick turned the other way to their room. His back hunched and shoulders down from a few extra rounds of alcohol didn't keep her from the veiled message, that he knew she'd disobey. Whether that was the truth or not was his and others to interpret.

Just as it was hers. Valka turned to stand beside Hiccup's door.

"I am."

* * *

"Just a little further. Keeping steady!"

Lightning flashed once more on the horizon. The ship wobbled upon the waters, its course less steady. A stray wave had caught the side and everything shook. Throk scrambled to his feet and ran to the doorway gasping. The deck had been wiped clean, the waters grabbing and dragging anything in reach ot the depth.

"We've lost the lifeboat!" He called to the crew.

"Hold on, something's coming up on the radar." Atali cried climbing up to face the console. "The ocean floor appears to be… rising?"

Valka gasped. "Everyone brace yourselves!"

Just before, all anyone could notice was that for a split-second, the ocean had leveled out. There was a pang of relief so short lived once they heard screeches of metal on the hull. And then, by the gods, Loki had his way.

Everyone screamed as the world tipped over. The edge of the sea went over their heads and gravity worked its chaotic magic. Objects, papers, metal tools flew in the air and their feet rose from under them, while everyone grabbed rails on the console or whatever was nearby for dear life. Out the window, only darkness and water could be seen.

The boat knocked across rock and that horrid screeching was heard again. The crew members rocked and barely maintained their grips, Valka herself gasping and shuddering. Everything around her was fading to black. For the first time in her life, the scientist truly wondered if all her beliefs were worth it. They and her intelligence could do nothing to save her; all she had were her final thoughts and breaths running through her veins.

But she saw it, a glimmer of hope. Ripples just below that another bolt illuminated.

"There's seawater below us. Jump for it!"

No one questioned her. The crew released their grips and flew to the wall. Bearing the impact, they crawled for the open doorway and leapt from the sides. They all splashed into the water just as a giant burst of water followed. They watched from under the surface as their boat crashed in after them.

One by one they gasped for breath and lapped the water. Paddling they reached the nearest shore, coughing and dripping. They could finally take steady footsteps once more, their boots shifting on what felt like sand. With what little coherent thought she had, Valka could guess they were in some grotto.

She shivered and huddled in looking back at the crew. "Is everyone alright?"

No one was any better than she was. Still, they gave half-alive murmurs of compliance.

Even in the dim light, Valka could see the pale tones of their skin and uncontrollable tremors from their experience and the temperature. Her own thick, fur-line brown coat shrunk along her body and a bone-chilling breeze gave her flesh the touch of ice. She rubbed her forearms rough and breathed deep battling the rush of vertigo, gulping to keep the blood rushing.

"Is the equipment intact?" Atali stammered shivering in her own silver coat.

One look at the boat was enough of an answer.

Valka was quick to move on with a salvaged device, flipping a switch and activating the radar. She thanked Odin once the screen had turned on and gave stable readings of the area. And yet a computer screen couldn't capture her attention long enough once she looked up.

Little flicks of light like stars appeared around her as if descended from the heavens, and the rush of waterfalls behind them gave an ethereal feel to what was before her. Droplets dripped to each new sight, the glows trickling down like steams as she stepped past the beginnings of alien forests with flowers of colors unlike anything she had ever seen. She marveled at this magical place veiled behind a curtain of real world. It went beyond, into shadows and steams into some unknown frontier Valka wanted to wander forever towards.

The other scientists joined her and anchored her back. Valka jumped as though the stars still had not left her eyes.

"This appears to be some manner of subterranean chamber." Atali murmured pulling Valka's still active device before it fell from her hand. "The sonar readings show it extends several miles forwards and in multiple directions. It's like a… a labyrinth of natural tunnels underneath the ocean."

"It's the Hidden World."

"Can it truly be?" Mala wondered.

The ancestral home of the dragons, the sacred nest at the end of the world before scientists learned there was no end. The old sailor's myth told since the age of Vikings. It was all true. And Valka, drawn to it like a Valkyrie's song to the hallowed land of gods, could not help but be pulled in.

"Dr. Haddock!"

She ran into the fields of plants, brushing everything as if to confirm it. "Lush vegetation composed of no recorded flora, flowing water, above average temperatures, ample oxygen. Bioluminescent algae, even heat signatures. All signs there could very well be life here!"

Mala pulled her back and gripped her by the shoulders. "Perhaps nothing more than signs. And certainly not absolute proof of dragons."

"More importantly though, how are we to escape this place?"

"Throk is right. Our radio has been damaged, and we've no climbing equipment sufficient to scale the cliff. Even if we did, nothing but endless seawater awaits us."

"What about a signal flare?" Atali asked.

"Who would even see it?"

Valka paused. "Hush. We're not alone."

As one, they stopped breathing. The beats of something massive could be heard somewhere in that endless maze of wonders. They echoed along the halls, around every stalagtite, commanding the cavern. A loud sound followed and thuds more firm came in their place.

Their hearts almost stopped beating at the same time as well. Atali whispered. "It may well be some aquatic cave-dweller."

"Not with footsteps that large." Valka called back. "Can it be?"

They remained in place, as if forgetting how to run. An eternity of footsteps came louder and louder. A shape finally appeared in the black, to which the crystals glowed brighter. All four researchers bowed before what came into the light.

A beast with a crown built upon its head. Something raised in the back, what they could only guess to be wings. It stared at them with slit eyes baring its fangs ready to tear them to shreds. Valka witnessed this creature caught between the fear of being its prey… and the joy coursing through her veins. It roared, a majestic, regal roar.

A dragon.

"Impossible!" Throk screamed.

"Valka, run!" Atali called to her. Mala was the first to move grabbing her.

"Throk, hurry!"

Her burly assistant reached for the firearm on his back. He backed away aiming it at the snarling dragon's face.

"No, you'll agitate him!" Valka rushed to stand in Throk's way. The man stood down while she turned, breathlessly to the dragon. A light had built behind his jaws, a sign he was ready to attack. Still weak in the knees, she stepped with hands out in peace. "There, there, it's alright. We're friends."

He seemed to respond to positive stimuli, the burning glow in its jaws gone. He cocked his head as she drew closer, but his defensive growls stopped her in place. Valka could view him better at just a foot away, taking in his claws, the talons on his wingtips, and the breathtaking sheen of his scales. The dragon seemed to crawl on a second set of wings- how did that affect his flight capabilities? Could he fly at all? Valka almost wanted him to breathe fire to see what it looked like.

Seeing her inspect every inch of him like a newborn child must have calmed him, as his growls stopped. His pupils also seemed to round. He must not have viewed her as a threat anymore – a sign of enhanced intelligence, she imagined.

"Look at you, so beautiful." Valka murmured. She felt the courage to come closer now. The dragon leaned down to stare eye-level with her. It grunted and snorted, making her giggle as it puffed a breath to her face. "I can't tell you how incredible this is, or how long I've dreamed of this. Is this your home?"

He came close, to where she could touch and hold his head in her arms. She brushed the scales of his snout, aweing as he drifted away. The dragon opened his eyes again, and she gasped.

Those black orbs filled with curiosity, they were like a mirror. Ripping into her soul and pulling out its deepest, undeniable truth. She could see whatever feelings she had were reflected in this gentle giant, hiding nothing and requesting that she do the same. If there was any fear left in Valka's soul, it was completely gone, she would forever remember in this, perhaps the most magical moment of her life.

At last, he rumbled and purred, leaning into her touch. Giggles escaped Valka's lips, turning into uncontrollable laughter.

"They're real. They're real!"

Her crewmates all stepped forward, just as breathless. They reached out to him, murmuring with just as much delight. Valka's mantra, the focus of her life's worth of research, was here, alive, before them.

"Can you help us?"

The dragon turned to the caverns and roared again. His roar echoed traveling past the many towers of rock. A roar came back, followed by many more. Valka and the others dared not blink, lest they mistake the sight ahead as another dream. But they came, in droves: hundreds of dragons flying towards them.

The dragon next to Valka bowed and stared at her. They all looked to one another and back to him dazed. Did they dare?

All four of them wasted no time and climbed atop him, his size more massive than first assumed. The dragon pushed from the ground, just that effort enough to knock the wind from them once again. With every beat of his folded wings, Valka heart seemed to smash against her ribcage in turn. The cavern and water rushed past them in mists and blurs, the dragon racing through and up towards the light.

"_Once, there were dragons."_

Up and above, past the rain that barely grazed her face, along winds that could barely touch her, she rose. They could reach out and touch clouds, just as watery as they deduced but still dreaming they could be as fluffy as cotton candy. Heaven and worlds beyond were now things they could see, smell and feel. They rose above the blanked with the moon and a million stars lighting their backs.

The dragons that came with them popped from the clouds, rising from the earth and sea, and flying to Odin knew where. But their roars came so loud, no one in this or any other realm could doubt what Valka knew to be true.

"_Now, once again, there are dragons."_

* * *

**Hello again, everyone!**

**For those of you who are tuning in just now, welcome to this, a new fanfiction I've developed – maybe!**

**For those who checked out the last chapter of my ongoing work, The New Life for A Hiccup, you may remember I mentioned something along the lines of a new story. I wasn't sure I would go through with it considering what would or might happen with the fandom now that the original trilogy is over and updates here are starting to dwindle. But I decided to give it a shot anyway. (If you're wondering about the next chapter of that story, btw, don't worry. Work on the next chapter will begin after the time this is posted.)**

**Anyway, I wanted to test the waters, if you will, with this. I talked about doing a modern-day fanfic for HTTYD, but I feel those usually need some worldbuilding if you decide to include actual dragons in it, and not dogs or cats like some fanfics do. So this is a prologue of sorts, focused on Valka and her role in bringing dragons to the modern world. I felt it was appropriate since in a way, Valka was the catalyst for all the events in the trilogy to begin. **

**It was a bit of a risky move since a prologue, as I read, is a bit of a risky move. Bit of a writing tip for those interested: a prologue – unless it is absolutely necessary for your story, like you can't explain something that happens in it without it to fill in the blanks – DON'T DO IT! A first chapter is supposed to hook your readers and let them know in a sense what the story is supposed to be about, and that's a difficult enough task on its own. If you do a prologue, then you have to do that all over again when you put in your first chapter. You're also supposed to keep it short and sweet, but what's done is done.**

**But anyway, this should let readers know how it happened. As I said, this is to test the waters, so to speak. I will leave this alone until the completion of The New Life. If enough people comment and favorite and follow it, I will go ahead and make this a full-fledged story. **

**To summarize: whether this goes on or not is up to you!**

**So as I always say: review, favorite, follow! I will keep an eye on this story as I continue. We'll see where it goes. Until next time!**


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